Cover attachment for telephone hand sets



May 22, 1951 c. H. ALLEN ET AL COVER ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONE HAND SETS Filed 001,. 6, 1948 INVENTOR$ CALV/A/ HALLE/V BY WAQV 6 ALLf/V Patented May 22, 1951 COVER ATTACHMENT Foii TELEPHONE HAND sETs Calvin H. Allen and Mary E. Allen, Oakland, Calif;

Application October 6, 1948, Serial No. 52,116

2 Claims. 1

y This invention relates to overlay covers adapted for ready attachment to instruments, such the conventional telephone hand sets including transmitter and receiver units, and constitutes improvements over the similar structure shown and described in our prior application, Serial No. 693,124, filed August 26, 1946, now Patent No. 2,475,303.

An object of the present invention is to provide a decorative or protective cover for instruments of the character described in which provision is made for securely connecting the cover and instrument against relative accidental separation which imposed forces of rough or careless handling might otherwise cause.

Another object of the invention is to provide a comparatively thin-walled cover of the class referred to, for attachment to telephone hand sets or the like, in which provision is made for holding the cover in intimate surface engagement with the instrument so that the latter provides a rigid backing support for the cover to protect the thinwalled portions thereof against flexure, deformation or possible fracture under the squeezing pressures of gripping and handling the instrument. A further object of the invention is to provide adevice of the class described composed of comparatively simple mold-formed parts which may be readily assembled in cooperative relation on an instrument by persons not possessed of a marked degree of mechanical skill.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cover for instruments of the type referred to which will not in the least interfere with the ease of handling or operational characteristics of the instruments.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the body portion of the cover attachment of our invention looking directly into the instrument-receiving cavity thereof. The cap members are omitted so as to more clearly disclose the cover construction.

Figure 2 is a View partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, showing the complete cover attachment showing the latter operatively connected to a conventional telephone hand set.

Figure 3 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, showing one of the cap members.

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the structure of Figure 1, showing the accommodation aperture and slit provided in the cover body for the instrument cord.

Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure i.

We have chosen to illustrate the cover attachmentof our invention in connection with the familiar type of telephone hand set, shown in Figure 2, which has substantially cup-shaped housing portions 6 and l enclosing the telephone transmitter and receiver units respectively and which areinterconnected by the integral bridge member 8 conveniently forming the hand grip for the instrument. fhe signal conductor cord 9, which is connected to a remote terminal box of the telephone system and which is not shown, eX- tends from the transmitter housing portion 6. The body portion of the cover attachment ilustrated in Figure l, is preferably constructed unitarily of molded or die-shaped material, which may be a selected one of the numerous suitable natural or synthetic resinoids,'to provide a comparatively thin-walled shell covering a major portion of the exposed surface of the telephone instrument. The shell is shaped to provide therein a unit cavity consisting of a relatively narrow and elongated medial portion l l for the reception of the bridge or grip member 8 of the instrument, and enlarged terminal portions i2 and i3 shaped complementarily with and to receive, respectively, the transmitter housing 6 and the receiver housing I of the instrument. The side wall of the shell defining the transmitter cavity portion I2 is provided with an aperture I4 having a radiating slit 16 extending to the upper rim of the cavity by means of which the conductor cord 9 may be passed into the aperture l4, when the cover attachment is being connected with the telephone instrument, without the necessity of disconnecting the cord at the terminal box.

Means are provided for securing the cover attachment to the telephone instrument. Bordering each cavity portion 12 and 3 is an upward rim extension I! of the shell provided with a downwardly spaced external flange I8 and with one or more peripheral grooves or ridges l9 forming increments of a single or multiple pitch screw thread. A pair of substantially identical caps is provided, one of which is most clearly shown in Figure 3, arranged for detachable engagement with the rim extensions [1. As here shown, each cap, preferably constructed of the same material as the main body portion of the body shell, is cylindrical in form being provided with an axially extending skirt 2| formed at one end with a transaxial face 22 adapted to abut against the face 23 of the flange I8 and at the other end with a radially inwardly directed marginal lip 24 adapted to overlie the corresponding marginal surface of the instrument transmitter and receiver housings as the case may be. The lip 24 borders a central opening 26 in the cap which coincides with the perforate covers of the transmitter and receiver units. Although it is preferred that the caps be provided with the openings 26 shown, it may be desired to form the caps with an end wall member formed as an integral continuation of the lip 24 and provided with suitable perforations for the passage of the vibratory sound waves to and from the transmitter and receiver. The inner surface 21 of the cap skirt 2| is provided with ridges or grooves 28 complementary with the thread elements 19 of the rims I! so that the caps may be threadedly engaged with the cover attachment body.

The arrangement of the parts is such that as a result of attaching the caps to the cover body portion, the latter is drawn into intimate surface engagement with the telephone instrument so that the latter forms a rigid backing for the comparatively thin cover attachment wall and supports the latter against fracture or deformation by the strains occasioned by manually gripping the instrument might cause. It will be noted that when they are attached, the caps span the cavity medial portion H at the junctions thereof with the cavity portions I2 and I3, thus locking the telephone instrument securely to the cover attachment. It will also be noted that the parts of the cover attachment have been reduced to substantially the utmost of manufacturing simplicity and that their design is such that the average person not possessed of a marked degree of mechanical skill can very readily attach the cover to a telephone instrument.

We claim:

1. A cover for telephone hand sets comprising three shells of thin material having an inherent self-maintaining form, the first shell comprising a concaved central portion having walls shaped snugly to fit around the top and side surface of the central hand grip portion of the set and terminal partly annular portions shaped to fit the receiver and transmitter portions of the set to embrace circumferentially the walls thereof throughout the outwardly and laterally facing portions thereof, the shell defining a cavity having an open bottom or entrance opening corresponding to the distance between the edges of the walls of the central portion and the discontinuities of the annular portion which permits the assembly of the shell on the hand set by a motion of approach from above, the other two shells being caps comprising each a plane annulus to overlie the faces of the receiver or transmitter and a cylindrical flange to encircle their sides and embrace the partly annular portions of the first shell, the outer surfaces of said partly annular portions and the inner surfaces of said flanges having interlocking formations whereby on assembly of the shells with the set the first shell is positioned and maintained in snug-fitting relation to the part it covers and the discontinuities in its annular portions are covered over in the area adjacent the ends of the set.

2. A cover as defined in claim 1 wherein one of the partly annular portions of the first shell has a hole to pass the conductor cord and a slit extends from this hole to the margin of the shell whereby the cord may be passed into the hole through the slit by bending of the edges of the latter and the cap shell holds the edges of the slit approximated when the parts are assembled.

CALVIN H. ALLEN. MARY E. ALLEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 137,984 McLarn May 30, 1944 1,672,761 Josinsky June 5, 1928 1,904,845 Zelenka Apr. 18, 1933 2,156,754 Evans May 2, 1939 2,200,794 Krantz May 14, 1940 2,298,207 Gent May 30, 1944 2,427,147 Lewis Sept. 9, 1947 2,475,303 Allen July 5, 1949 OTHER REFERENCES Photostat of Advertisement from Washington Post, Aug. 22, 1949. 

